27th Aug 2015 10:31
LONDON (Alliance News) - Russian property investor Raven Russia Ltd on Thursday swung to a pretax loss in the first half as the group was hit hard by the continued tough macroeconomic conditions in the country.
Raven said it made a pretax loss of USD18.1 million for the six months to the end of June, compared to a USD57.9 million profit a year earlier as it booked a USD51.9 million impairment charge on the value of its assets.
Net rental income in the half was slightly lower, down to USD95.5 million from USD97.8 million, but the market value of its investment properties fell to USD1.55 billion from USD1.61 billion.
Raven said its performance was hurt by the challenges the Russian market is facing in the wake of the sanctions imposed on it by Western powers related to its actions in Ukraine. In addition, the country has been hit hard by the decline in the oil price over the past year and by the devaluation of the Russian ruble.
"We have adopted a defensive strategy in the light of the difficult economic conditions we are facing. Our emphasis is on cash-flow and long-term security," said Glyn Hirsch, the company's chief executive.
In line with this, the company slashed its interim dividend payout to 1.0 pence per share from 2.5 pence a year earlier.
"The executive and management teams continue to do all that they can to secure the long-term income from the portfolio in a turbulent market and, with the oil price and the ruble continuing to fall this week, it is unlikely that we will see any respite in the coming year," Raven said.
Raven shares were down 2.8% to 42.76 pence on Thursday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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